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Alright, some more practice here. These two are the first in a number of studies I’ll be doing. I’ll be redesigning a handful of characters where the race of each person is changed. Important as an exercise in drawing diversity, and the fact that POC representation in fantasy is mostly non-existant.

Now this is a very intriguing image and my only quibbles are that Eomer isn't fair-haired, since the Rohirrim are very associated with that look to help distinguish them from Gondorians (I believe that there are blondes to be found amongst the mongols and other steppe peoples, so you would not be obliged to change anything else - while the Rohirrim are saxon by culture there's no reason they have to be White Anglo-Saxon Protestant-types).

As for your image of Boromir it's just about perfect even if he isn't as grey-eyed as Tolkien described him (apologies, but I WILL quibble where explicit description in the text is concerned); might I please ask if you drew on Ethiopian physical types when illustrating him? (I believe that the name Gondor may have been borrowed from Gondar in that ancient nation - perhaps you could borrow from local architectural styles should you ever draw up a Minas Tirith to match this Boromir?).

I must say that while I'm something of an old fogey when it comes to my mental image of Middle-Earth, I do find these thought-experiments fascinating rather than distressing; The Silmarillion Project of Mr Aaron Diaz holds my interest for much the same reason as this rendition of Eomer of Rohan and Boromir of Gondor does! (even where I middy disagree with it, it's very well drawn).

i mean, eomer has a sort of mongolian look because mongolians were fierce horsemen jut like the rohan and that's not only amazing, it has historical background man I fucking love racebending of Tolkien's works because it adds WHOLE NEW LEVELS to the story that weren't there before because of the whole "written by an old Victorian Christian white guy" thing

and of course, if people have problems with this because "eeeew colored* people in Tolkien", either because a) they're racist or b) they don't want any changes made into Tolkien's legendarium and future interpretations...

Well, I have two things to say

a) well, sorry if the world is not just white people all the time

b) Tolkien's works are not only inspired by many celtic/norse myths and folktales, they were written in a pretty mythological fashion and are intended to be interpreted as such. This means, by the text's very nature, that his works may and should be read in a myriad of ways (after all, all myths take many forms) and that changes into the text are incouraged. This effect is immensely enlaged due to Tolkien's relevance, both into fantasy culture but also in western culture in general (After all, his works ARE a staple of 20th century's cultural legacy, making it it's own form of modern mythology) so yeah, everybody gets to play with the toys because myths belong to EVERYONE. Even people of color whom noticed the text's flaws at the theme, so they have every right to twist the tales to themselves. That's how history grows and changes amd makes itself beter and wider and more powerfull.

*don't call anybody colored, that makes you look like a nasty racist ass from the 50's

YESSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS I AM SO PUMPED FOR THIS YES FINALLY DAMN ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ yES POC yesssssssssssssssssssssssssssss thank you thank you a thousand times this is all i wanted for 2014 and more THANK YOU

You can dig shitting all over Tolkien's work just to be "progressive and diverse"? Why the fuck don't YOU create your own Mythology where you have these elements instead of taking the easy, entitled, tumblr SJW way out of fucking with the original story like this? Why don't you take piece by piece elements of African, Asian, Indian, South-American mythologies if you want to make something more "diverse" in terms of race and "culture" and make your own fucking story?

it's hardly shitting on tolkien's work to be interested in it enough to take the time to make a beautiful, detailed drawing like this, the artist is clearly a fan of LOTR, and is just trying an experiment to mix things up. It's like how Kurosawa's "Ran" is a re-telling of shakespeare's "King Lear" set in medieval japan. Tolkien himself once said of his own work "I had a mind to make a body of more or less connected legend, ranging from the large and cosmogonic to the level of romantic fairy-story... The cycles should be linked to a majestic whole, and yet leave scope for other minds and hands, wielding paint and music and drama" it doesnt sound like he would have had a big problem with a fan trying something like this. you just sound like an angry, venom-filled person with some huge axe to grind about "progressive" society.

Except, you know, in other interviews the author claimed clearly that Middle-Earth is what England of the 12th-13th century would be if set in a Fantasy landscape. There were no other races there. Tolkien intended to paint a portrait of a Mythology dedicated to the Brits, such as the one Norsemen have, the one Greeks have, the ones Romans, Iberians, Slavs have. He built it and he intended to build an exclusive European mythology. There's no room for "gender swaps" or "race swaps" in there, this is just victim complex wishful thinking coming from SJW's and people who are upset because they are "under represented" in the books and movies. THAT, my friend, is a venom-filled attitude.

>There isn't a negro in this movie or book? >RACIST! NEEDS MORE DIVERSITY!

Tolkien's works are fine. They don't need this. If they want more representation in these type of works, they should pick up a pen themselves and do what Tolkien did.

if you look at my own page (i do middle earth concept art) you might find that you and i are quite in agreement about tolkien's general aesthetic aims with his work (except that, if you like to be specific which it sounds like you do, he was very NOT interested in creating a mythology for the "brits", who already have their own cultural mythology in the form of the king arthur stories and such, but for anglo-saxon england) tolkien was very specific about that kind of thing, and even as a huge fan of his, being a person of mostly scottish and irish ancestry, i sometimes chafe under the relentless anglophilia of his work. that said it's a huge central part of his whole aesthetic, and its part of what makes his work (which i love) what it is. my point was that i dont think he would have taken particular offence to people of later generations trying experiments with adapting his work, as is done with shakespeare or homer, if anything it probably would make him feel extremely validated that his work has become such a staple, especially since there is absolutely no danger of people forgetting what the "classic" version of middle-earth is intended to look like (between decades worth of tolkien art and three of the biggest movies of all time being adapted from his work with all-white casts).

i think this axe you seem to have to grind is purely your own, tolkien was no twenty-first century anti-liberal who hated SJW's, so i dont think you need to be offended on his behalf.

I have a friendly tip to those of you who crave Africans in RPGs: The fantasy enthusiast Varg Vikernes is in the process of developing a new RPG by the name MYFAROG (Mythic Fantasy Roleplaying Game, [link], which appears to be "evil" and "bland" according to your criteria. If you get in touch with him and share your concerns, perhaps he'll be open for persuasion...

That whole "white society" fantasy is largely because of Tolkien, according to my understanding. Not on purpose of course, but other authors came after him and followed in his footsteps, essentially. Some authors are getting away from it now though, and include both major women and poc characters. If you are interested, you should look at Brent Weeks' trilogies c:

i think that Tolkien has been a major influence, which is good, but i really think that people should start imagining their own worlds, their own races. of course, imitation is the sincerest form of flattery, if that's how the saying goes, but i can't help but get a bad taste in my mouth when reading a work that could be a LOTR fanfic, you know?

I'm not sure if it's imitation so much as it is just that Tolkien was (and sort of still is) the definitive "this is how high fantasy is done", but I get what you mean. I think we're coming away from it, anyway.

It'll be interesting when LGB (maybe even T but that seems like it's going to be hard to portray without pissing off the whole queer community) are included as a regular chill part of the social landscape in fiction, I think. Or at least when it's not outright like "WHOA THIS DUDE LIKES MEN QUICK BURN HIM" etc.

I completely agree! It's either "oh he's gay the twisted bastard" or "hey here comes Robert. Have I mentioned he is gay and that is totally okay because the author is a kind and open-minded person who sees nothing wrong with this!"

I just want something that'll have its own rich and engaging culture that I can look at and be like, wow, I can see this happening. Is that what that series you recommended earlier like?

Definitely 100% with Night Angel. I conferred with a friend of mine and they don't feel that it is as strong in Lightbringer, the trilogy he's still finishing, which I am thinking about it now and I definitely don't disagree with it. On the other hand there is something to be said for the characters and how they interact with the world I think.

There's still a third book to come and it might get stronger there, but we'll see. Definitely yes for Night Angel though.

Thanks, I see where you're coming from. If there can be dragons, ghosts, demons and magic, why not people of color as well?

These were fun to draw. It was nice to imagine what Jackson's version of LOTR would look like with a PoC cast. Though later on, I should be doing more original characters/stories that are a lot more labor intensive. These are just some quick, fun designs I did in 2-3 hours for practice.

Speaking as a veteran roleplayer and fantasy enthusiast, what we care most about is immersion. If you cannot immerse yourself in the fantasy, the whole exercise becomes fruitless. If you play in a fantasy setting based on medieval Europe, then of course immersion is going to break if you apply modern liberal standards to it, by balancing out the races and sexes in the name of political correctness.

Why not create a roleplaying game based on African culture instead, if you have such a passion for it? You could try to find someone to Kickstart it with, and be the lead graphics artist.

Whenever I see someone dress an African up in the clothes of a Norseman, I cringe. It reminds me of the Hollywood movie where one of our major deities, Heimdall, was played by an African. It's political correctness run amok, and an offense to the Nordic people. Hopefully European culture will never become so depraved that we'll see characters like yours in the quintessentially European masterpiece The Lord of the Rings.

There were a lot of POC back in the day-- this isn't a new thing. It's called traveling. White people did it. Asian people did it. Black people did it. Middle Eastern people did it. Get over yourself. Things are not exclusive to whites.

You are correct that there have always existed different races, and you are correct that people have always traveled. Those things are self-evident and were never up for debate, though.

Many things have been exclusive to the European people, although we've chosen to share them with the rest of the world; nearly all scientific achievements and high culture have come exclusively from the European and the Oriental peoples (whereas the wheel first came to Africa in the 19th century, with Europeans colonists). Most new ideas still originate from our people.